Bad new laws are destroying Irish skies?

Someone familier with Irish development laws recently told me (in reference to a greenspace haven for cider parties) that "any public space must have either a fence around it at night or a minimum level of illumination." What!? More recently he told me the the lighting and infrared security cameras of eastpoint business park wouldn't pass today, the minimum is 70 lux. 70 lux!! An ancient technicolor video camera I once owned required 70 lux, it was all but useless except in broad daylight. 70lux is a wastful glaring amount of light, especially considering that most lights here don't have daylight sensors to turn them off when they aren't needed at all. According to micron's website ( www.micron.com/products/imaging/technology/lux.html ), the full moon is 0.1 lux and a very dark day is 100lux. Do we really need to illuminate the world 24/7 with 700 times the brightness of the full moon, that is, almost to the brightness of daylight?

I haven't found reference to the text of these new laws, but if new sites are being developed based on such junk science, Ireland's night sky will be destroyed. 70lux incidently is also what is required for indoor overwintering facilities for sheep in Ireland. We'll be able to overwinter our sheep outdoors then right?

More recently he told me the the lighting and infrared security cameras of eastpoint business park wouldn't pass today, the minimum is 70 lux. 70 lux!!

Thats crazy. The lighting in east point, apart from the tenis court, is an example that should be followed. The lighting is all FCO and the entire area is adequately lit.

Yet another recent trend is away from high pressure sodium, not to more efficient low pressure sodium, but to less efficient metal vapor lights. Apparently this is because of the perceived spill of orange light. But in other parts of the world the trend is in exactly the opposite direction because mercury discharge lights are so environmentally inefficient.

The trend in Dublin at least is away from orange LPS to HPS. The metal vapor lights are not used due to being too expensive to run (apart from silly artistic lighting projects). The improvement in light fittings around Dublin for HPS in recent years has led to them being less light polluting than LPS, though I suspect not as cheap to run.

If you can find any references to these guidelines I'd appreciate it.

I'm starting to wonder if my friend was referring to a new E.U. guideline. It must be difficult for E.U. officials living in Belgium even consider the natural environment of the night sky. Every square inch of road in Flanders is illuminated, so no one there will ever see more than about 600 stars. users.skynet.be/fa079980/light_pollution...ollution_belgium.htm

I think the law _should_ be referenced in one of these documents, but I haven't found it yet:
www.environ.ie/DOEI/DOEIPol.nsf/wvNavVie...cument&Lang=#I30
I'll let you know if I find it.

You're right, FCO HPS is probably better than non FCO LPS.